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US 11,499,747 B2Granted
Heat exchanger tubes and tube assembly configurations
AssigneeRheem Manufacturing Company
InventorsSatya Gullapalli, Bruce Hotton, Juan Garcia, Amin Akbarimonfared, Juan Carlos Montanez, Kevin Williams
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A water heater can include a baffle and a slab heat exchanger with at least two rows of heat exchanger tubes, each row comprising a plurality of heat exchanger tubes. At least one of the heat exchanger tubes comprises a tube and a plurality of fins on the exterior of the tube circumscribing the tube, wherein the outer edge of each fin of the plurality of fins is bent at least at the same three areas of each fin such that the bends form at least three flat or concave areas running along the length of the heat exchanger tube.
Claims19
A water heater comprising:
- a burner;
- an exhaust vent;
- a corrugated baffle comprising a plurality of slits, each slit of the plurality of slits running along at least part of a corresponding groove of a plurality of grooves in the corrugated baffle, the corrugated baffle having a first edge and a second edge each parallel to the plurality of grooves, wherein at least some of the plurality of slits decreases in length toward a center of the corrugated baffle for each subsequent groove of the plurality of grooves moving away from the first edge or the second edge;
- and
- a heat exchanger configured to receive heated air from the burner, the heat exchanger comprising:
- first heat exchanger tubes arranged in a first row and second heat exchanger tubes arranged in a second row, each of the first and second heat exchanger tubes comprising:
- a tube;
- and
- a plurality of fins on an exterior of the tube positioned concentrically around the tube, wherein an outer edge of each fin of the plurality of fins comprises a pattern of bends;
- wherein a center of each of the first heat exchanger tubes is laterally offset relative a center of each of the second heat exchanger tubes;
- wherein the pattern of bends on each of the plurality of fins of the first heat exchanger tubes is configured to form a gap between the plurality of fins of adjacent first heat exchanger tubes, and
- wherein each of the plurality of fins of the second heat exchanger tubes (i) at least partially fits into a corresponding gap between the plurality of fins of adjacent first heat exchanger tubes, (ii) is in contact with at least one of the plurality of fins of the first heat exchanger tubes, and (iii) is in contact with the corrugated baffle.
9 more elements
A heat exchanger assembly comprising:
- a first row of heat exchanger tubes, each heat exchanger tube in the first row comprising a tube and a first plurality of fins on an exterior of the tube positioned concentrically around the tube, an outer edge of each fin of the first plurality of fins comprising a first pattern of bends defining a first cross-sectional shape;
- a second row of heat exchanger tubes, each heat exchanger tube in the second row comprising a tube and a second plurality of fins on the exterior of the tube positioned concentrically around the tube, an outer edge of each fin of the second plurality of fins comprising a second pattern of bends defining a second cross-sectional shape that is different from the first cross-sectional shape;
- and
- a corrugated baffle comprising a first slit and a second slit that both run along at least part of a plurality of grooves in the corrugated baffle, the corrugated baffle having a first edge and a second edge each parallel to the plurality of grooves, wherein the first slit and the second slit decrease in length moving away from the first edge and the second edge toward a center of the corrugated baffle,
- wherein the first pattern of bends are configured to form a plurality of gaps between each heat exchanger tube in the first row, and the first plurality of fins is in contact with the second plurality of fins at an offset such that the heat exchanger tubes of the second row at least partially fits into the plurality of gaps in the first row.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.